American Civilizations

Anasazi (Ancestral Puebloans)

Native American people who lived in present-day Colorado, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico; built cliff dwellings such as those at Mesa Verde

Mesa Verde

complex of Anasazi cliff-dwellings in southern Colorado, built c. 1150-1300

Pueblos

southwestern Native American villages made of large stone or adobe (heavy clay) apartments

kivas

underground chambers at the center of Anasazi communities used for religious ceremonies or councils

Moundbuilders

various pre-Columbian North American tribes of the present-day southeastern United States who built earthworks over tombs

Mississippian culture

mound-building Native American civilization in the present-day Midwestern, Eastern, and Southeastern United States; flourished c. 800-1600 CE; featured large towns linked by loose trading networks; largest city was Cahokia; lacked stone architecture

Cahokia

important mound-builder religious center near present-day St. Louis; largest Native American settlement in pre-Columbian present-day United States; population 25,000-40,000 in 1200 CE

Navajo

Native American people who settled the American Southwest around 1400 CE; traded with and were influenced by the Puebloans

Iroquois

Native American confederacy of the Mohawk, Onondaga, Oneida, Cayuga, and Seneca tribes in northeast North America

Toltecs

central Mexican culture; strongly militaristic ethic including human sacrifice; influenced large territory after 1000 CE; declined after 1200 CE

Topiltzin

religious leader and reformer of the Toltecs in 10th century; dedicated to god Quetzalcoatl; after losing struggle for power, went into exile in the Yucatan peninsula

Quetzalcoatl

Toltec deity; Feathered Serpent; adopted by Aztecs as a major god

Mexica

Native American people who migrated into the central valley of Mexico c. 1300 and founded the city of Tenochtitlan

Aztecs

Mesoamerican culture in central Mexico c. 1300-1521 CE; a political confederation of three city-states formed in 1421 CE: Tenochtitlan, Texcoco, and Tlacopan

Tenochtitlan

capital city of the Aztecs built in 1325 on an island in Lake Texcoco in central Mexico; one of largest cities in the world at the time of Spanish arrival; modern Mexico City is built on its ruins

Triple Alliance

political partnership of the city-states of Tenochtitlan, Tlacopan and Texcoco

chinampas

raised fields or floating gardens constructed by the Aztecs along lake shores in Mesoamerica to increase agricultural yields

Great Aztec Temple

dedicated to the war god Huitzilopochtli and the rain god Tlaloc in Tenochtitlan; place of countless human sacrifices where victims' blood was thought to feed and appease the two great gods

Huitzilopochtli

Aztec tribal patron god; central figure of cult of human sacrifice and warfare; identified with old sun god

Tezcatlipoca

Aztec god of war and the night sky who was the giver and taker of life

Tlaloc

major deity of Aztecs; associated with fertility and the agricultural cycle; god of rain

Itzcoatl

Mexica king who laid the foundation of the Aztec Empire

Nezhualcoyotl

leading Aztec king of the 15th century; wrote hymns about life after death and the existence of the gods suggesting monotheistic beliefs

Montezuma I

(r. 1440-1469) expanded the Aztec Empire; made Tenochtitlan the dominant partner of the Aztec Triple Alliance

pochteca

special merchant class in Aztec society; specialized in long-distance trade in luxury items

calpulli

clans in Aztec society, later expanded to include residential groups that distributed land and provided labor and warriors

Inca

group of clans centered at Cuzco that created an empire incorporating various Andean cultures; term also used for the leader of the empire

Twantinsuyu

word for Inca Empire; region from present-day Columbia to Chile and eastward to northern Argentina

Pachacuti

ruler of Inca society from 1438 to 1471; launched a series of military campaigns that gave Incas control of the region from Cuzco to the shores of Lake Titicaca

Quecha

language of the Inca

Cuzco

capital city of the Incan Empire, Located in present-day Peru

ayulla

kinship-based household in Andean society tracing descent from a common, sometimes mythical ancestor

Sapa Inca

title of the Inca emperor; believed to be the son of the sun god Inti

mita

Andean system of forced labor for the Incan state lands and religion; all communities were expected to contribute; an essential aspect of Inca imperial control

quipu

arrangement of knotted strings on a cord used by the Incas in place of a writing system to record numerical information for censuses and financial records

chasquis

Incan messengers able to read quipus; runners relayed messages up to 150 miles per day

tambos

way stations used by Incas as inns and storehouses; supply centers for Inca armies on move; relay points for system of runners used to carry messages

Viracocha

supreme creator god of the Incas; father of all other Inca gods; believed to have taught humanity civilization before disappearing with a promise to return one day

Inti

Incan god of the sun; Incan emperors claimed to be descended from him

Mamakuna

young virgin girls given to prominent men in marriage or assigned to religious duties as priestesses in the state cult of the sun; some were ceremonially sacrificed

Yanakuna

male counterpart to mamakuna; servants who cared for Inca elites' animal herds

Temple of the Sun

Inca religious center located at Cuzco; center of state religion; held mummies of past Incas

Machu Picchu

abandoned city high in the Andes mountains that showcases the architectural genius of the Inca

Huayna Capac

Inca ruler (1493-1527); expanded empire to its greatest size from Peru into Chile, Argentina, Ecuador, and Colombia

Huascar

Inca ruler (1527-1532); died of smallpox during civil war against Atahulapa just prior to Spanish arrival

Atahulapa

last Inca ruler (1532-1533); won civil war against Huascar; executed by Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro in 1533 marking the end of the Inca empire

split inheritance

Inca practice of descent; all titles and political power went to successor, but wealth and land remained in hands of male descendants for support of cult of dead Inca's mummy